A close friend of mine – Jen – called me the other day to vent – the bill for her cable TV and internet came in, and they’d raised the price of high-speed internet by $5. Now, $5 isn’t really that much, but to someone who keeps careful tabs on their bills, that extra $60 a year was a problem worth venting about. When she asked what I would do, my response was easy: Call and cancel.

Jen was a bit taken aback at the suggestion, so I explained further: The goal wasn’t to actually cancel the service, but to get a retention special. Most companies offer deals just for new customers, and seem to forget that existing customers want a good deal too. However, some more aware companies have figured out that it costs a lot more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one, and when they think they’re going to lose you, they pull out the special deals.

This can be a good way to get yourself a good deal – provided you’re willing to play it right. (I should admit at this point that I’ve not ever called with the express intention of getting a deal, but I have been offered some very nice retention specials when I called legitimately to cancel service.) The important part is to remain calm, and be dedicated to canceling. If you come across as angry or abusive, you won’t get anywhere. If you jump at the first thing they say, you’ll never see the big offers.

Call up customer service, and when you end up on the line with an operator, tell them you’d like to cancel your service. They’ll probably ask why, so have an answer ready. (In Jen’s case, I suggested she tell them that it was because of the bill increase.) At this point, they’ll probably give some scripted patter about the benefits of retaining their service, and possibly switching to a cheaper plan if that is an option. Stand firm with canceling. More patter may follow, but eventually, usually a few repetitions of “No, I just want to cancel” into the conversation, they’ll pull out the specials (if they offer them).

Specials can vary; sometimes it’s the same special they are offering to new customers, sometimes it’s a percent off your bill, sometimes it’s a free upgrade. I’ve been offered free premium channels when canceling cable, free upgrades to new equipment and service packages when canceling satellite, discounts when canceling cell phone service, and free upgrade from the “lite” package to full speed when canceling DSL. I was even offered a free upgrade to a premium account when switching banks – I didn’t take that one, though, because their customer service was terrible.

Later in the day, Jen called me back ecstatic: She called the company and requested to cancel, telling them she felt the extra $60 was too much to pay for the internet service, when she could save money by switching to a different company. (Which she was prepared to do.) She had to wade through a bit of sales patter about why their company was so much better than the competition, but eventually the specials came out: They reduced the internet service by $5 (back to the original price) and gave her $5 off her cable TV bill. All total, she saved $10 off a bill that generally runs about $50 per month, making it a savings of 20%. Not bad for one phone call!

If you’re going to try this, you have to be prepared to actually have your service cancelled if they don’t offer a deal, so don’t do it for anything that you can’t afford to lose. Also, you’ll have to decide for yourself what your ethical line will be – I personally won’t call just to get a discount (I call only if I actually want to cancel the service) but I know of others who will call just to try and get a discount. (If they end up having to cancel, will call back and “uncancel” with another rep.)

If you’ve been thinking about getting rid of some services you could do without, give this a try – you just might end up with a deal!